human_dawnfandomcom-20200214-history
German Empire
The German Empire ''(German:'' Deutsches Kaiserreich, officially Deutsches Reich) ''is the constitutional monarchy that has existed since the Unification of Germany in 1871. Laying claim to several hundred star systems and having developed tens of dozens of prosperous colony worlds. It is one of the Orion Arm's three current superpowers and is the impromptu leader of the Central Powers. Established in 1871 with the proclaimation of Wilhelm I as the new German Emperor following the French capitulation in the Franco-Prussian War, the German Empire quickly would rise to prominence as one of the world's great powers and would begin to rival even the might of Great Britain during this time. Growing to become a major colonial empire and one of the key European powers on the African continent by 1900, the same year in which Germany had become Europe's largest economy and the second only to the United States globally. With the dawn of the 20th century and the subsequent Rhodesia Impact, the German Empire had proven to be woefully under-prepared for the devestating African Flu crisis and Khim'Er'Sha invasion which was to follow. At the time only one of it's colonies on the continent had been self-sufficient ''(Togoland) and the Imperial German Army did not have as strong of a presence in Africa as some of the other colonial powers did. Despite this, the German Empire was the last European power to remain on the southern half of the continent, although this was largely due to Wilhelm II's reluctance to abandon the colonial holdings that he had so desperately wanted. Today, the German Empire is a highly advanced post-industrial economy and remains one of the world's leading powers in all matters scientific, economic and military. It maintains a vast network of alliances and diplomatic relationships and holds one of the Orion Arm's most successful space programs. African Flu Pandemic By the beginning of the 20th century, the German Empire was one of the most powerful nations in Europe, boasting the first largest European economy and second largest global economy. It was an economic powerhouse that unlike the other European powers did not primarily invest in its overseas empire, instead putting 95% of its investment into Europe, a notable policy when ompared to the British 5% investment for reference. Yet it was also a shaky institution, plagued with issues of political ineffectiveness, unrest from a relatively new German socialist movement and a monarch who was known to be bombastic, impulsive and over-confident. One of the last powers to notice the emergence of the African Flu, it was only by 1903 that the German government would begin making preparations for a coordinated response to the pandemic as Wilhelm II ordered reinforcements to German Army forts on the continent and a public health campaign across Germany's colonies there to begin. By that point however it was already far too late as the first cases of the Flu would begin being reported across German East Africa, and the critical shortages of most supplies that would follow after a sustained period of rioting, looting, hoarding and a flood of refugees would stretch the colonial government there to a breaking point. The colonial authorities quickly reaching that breaking point by the beginning of 1904 as the African Flu would begin to be prevelant throughout the entire territory and the death toll was reaching the hundreds of thousands, starvation had begun to settle in as supply routes between settlements were affected by the pandemic and German troops pulled out of the major cities, largely because of their commanders' fears of infection. Some efforts would be made to slow the spread of the Flu throughout 1904 and 1905, utilizing military checkpoints and strict quarantines with shoot on sight orders commonplace, although the German Army had already been operating under these conditions even prior to official orders being given to do so. These efforts would see some success, though would ultimately fail in the face of the 1906 heatwave. Entering the first days of 1905, like most civilian order in Central and Southern Africa, the government in German East Africa had officially collapsed with the fleeing of the colony's governor, Gustav Adolf von Götzen and the majority of his administration being registered as either deceased or unaccounted for. The governing and defense of the colony now falling fully into the hands of Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck, a noteworthy Lieutenant Colonel who would eventually see the rank of General, and by 1906 would be promoted to Chief of African Operations as the Flu would--due to the 1906 Heatwave--almost fully overtake the entire southern half of the continent, including German Southeast Africa and Cameroon, the latter territory having been where Vorbeck had moved his headquarters to in the previous summer. As the autumn of 1906 approached, the majority of the civilian population of the German colonies in Africa would be dead, and Vorbeck would take ill from the Flu, but would miraculously recover several days later possibly due to experiencing only small amounts of exposure to it. Returning to Berlin in September to present his annual report on the Flu Pandemic to Wilhelm II and the General Staff (German: ''Großer Generalstab) ''in-person this time. The now Colonel had taken the opportunity to plead the case of abandoning Africa entirely to spare the lives of German colonial and military personnel to the meeting's attendees, winning over the General Staff and particularly the head of the Staff, Alfred Graf von Schlieffen but failing to appease the Kaiser, who in an outburst of rage would demand Vorbeck to leave the room and consider himself lucky that he had not been relieved of his command on the spot. Leaving Berlin reluctantly, Vorbeck would return to Cameroon in late September to find that the spread of the Flu had slowed by a considerable rate, and that in many parts of Cameroon that no new cases had been reported since August. Relaying this information to his counterparts in nearby French and British colonial holdings, he would find that this same pattern was being witnessed across the affected regions of the African continent, and that the Flu had seemingly burned itself out after one last devestating push. Leaving a continent in ruin and tens of millions dead, only a select few officials of the German Empire would be left in Africa by the end of the Flu Pandemic, supported by a small number of colonial Army forces which although not particularly hard hit by the Flu, were now suffering from logistical problems as a result of the complete breakdown of society on the continent and the disruption of supply lines. Over the course of 1907, the remnants of the German colonial authorities would attempt to restore at least miniscule amounts of law and order wherever they could, but in the end would fail as the meteor which had impacted in Rhodesia at the start of the century would turn out to have much more in store for both Germany and Humanity. Khim'Er'Sha Invasion Category:Nations